Adoption and Redemption

Ruth 4

Boaz redeems Naomi’s land and legacy, pointing us to the One who redeems us all and gives us an eternal inheritance. Through their lineage we see King David and eventually Jesus. Ruth is not an Israelite and we will also see two other ancestors who are foreigners. This shows us that all who adopt Jesus as their Savior and King, will be redeemed. Choose Him as your Kinsman Redeemer, the Brother who bought your way back into the family of God.

Land & Legacy - Ruth 4

Elimelech intended to go back to Israel when the famine was over, so he never sold any of his land. But because her husband and sons were no longer living, Naomi needed to sell the land to support herself. According to Israelite law, her husband’s closest relative was offered the land first. If he forfeited it, then it would go to his next closest relative. If possible, all land needed to remain in the family, so it was always offered to the man’s relatives before anyone else. But if none of the relatives could redeem it and the man himself was not able to buy it back soon, then it would still be returned to him on the year of Jubilee. Every fifty years, everything was returned to its original owner regardless because God gave each tribe and clan their land. Anything that God gave, could not be taken or given away by man (Leviticus 25:23-28).

The closest relative was also supposed to marry any young widow if her husband died before they were able to have a son. The purpose of these laws was to preserve the name and inheritance of the family. The first child the woman had with her new husband would take her old husband’s name and receive his inheritance. Then, the rest of the children would receive the name of the man who fathered them (Deuteronomy 25:5-10).

Boaz wanted to buy the land, but there was one family member who was closer to Elimelech than him. So, after Ruth went home to Naomi, Boaz went to the city gate to look for the man. When the man walked by, Boaz stopped him, and also gathered ten elders to be their witnesses. This was the number needed for official business transactions, which were usually conducted at the city gate. Then, he explained to that man that Naomi needed to sell her land and asked he was willing to redeem it. Initially, the man said he wanted the land. But when he found out there was a childless widow attached to it, he changed his mind. Most likely he already had children and was willing to buy the land if it increased the inheritance for his own family, but not if it meant preserving it for Naomi and Ruth’s family instead.

So, he passed over the land and the marriage, granting them to Boaz. As was customary, he gave Boaz his sandal to show that he was giving him the land that was rightfully his to stand on. It would be similar to handing over the keys to a vehicle you were selling although it served no practical purpose and was more symbolic than that. When he did this, Boaz looked at the elders and confirmed that they had witnessed him forfeiting his claim to the land and to Ruth, leaving Boaz free to claim them. The men confirmed the transaction, making it official.

But the people at the gate did more than just witness a business transaction. They praised their union asking that the Lord would let them continue to build the house of Israel and that they would be honored in Bethlehem. They compared Ruth to Rachel and Leah who started the nation almost 900 years before, and Tamar who gave their tribe leader his first son. Naomi was a prestigious woman in Bethlehem, and they hoped that her grandson would be someone very important, too.